Study at one of the world’s top universities for English. Our degree will spark your passion for reading and writing, and develop your intellectual, political, and creative responses to literature and the world. As your understanding of literature and yourself is transformed, you will be prepared for an array of careers that value strong communication skills and critical thinking.
What inspires you? Is it the stories left behind by history’s witnesses, or the ideas that define modern society? Is it the cultures that surround you every day, or the life of distant places - even other, imagined worlds?
Are you interested in how writing lies at the heart of everything we do, and everything we can be—its ability to change our minds and change the world? A degree in English Literature at Warwick will spark the passion for reading and writing you’ve had all your life and develop it into an expert knowledge of literary culture.
In your second and third years you will build your historical and theoretical knowledge of literature whilst also choosing from one of the widest and most innovative range of modules anywhere in the country.
Whether you prefer the ancient or the contemporary, or everything in between, you will have the freedom to create a degree that reflects your interests and motivations. Our undergraduates enter the workplace as confident, ethical, and compassionate thinkers with exceptional writing and communication skills.
Entry requirements
A level typical offer
AAA or A*AB to include grade A in English Literature or English Language and Literature (combined).
A level contextual offer
We welcome applications from candidates who meet the contextual eligibility criteria and whose predicted grades are close to, or slightly below, the contextual offer level. The typical contextual offer is ABB including an A in English Literature or English Language and Literature (combined). See if you're eligible.
We advise that you also check the English Language requirements for your course which may specify a higher GCSE English requirement. Please find the information about this below.
We advise that you also check the English Language requirements for your course which may specify a higher GCSE English requirement. Please find the information about this below.
International Baccalaureate (IB) typical offer
36 to include 6 at Higher Level in English Literature or English Language and Literature (combined).
International Baccalaureate (IB) contextual offer
We welcome applications from candidates who meet the contextual eligibility criteria and whose predicted grades are close to, or slightly below, the contextual offer level. The typical contextual offer is 32 including 6 at Higher Level in English Literature or English Language and Literature (combined). See if you're eligible.
We advise that you also check the English Language requirements for your course which may specify a higher GCSE English requirement. Please find the information about this below.
BTEC
We welcome applications from students taking BTECs alongside A level English Literature or English Language and Literature (combined).
Scotland Advanced Highers
AA in two Advanced Highers including English Literature, and AAB in three additional Highers subjects.
Welsh Baccalaureate
AAB in three subjects at A level including A in English Literature or English Language and Literature (combined) plus grade C in the Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales.
Access to Higher Education Diplomas
We will consider applicants returning to study who are presenting a QAA-recognised Access to Higher Education Diploma on a case-by-case basis.
Typically, we require 45 Credits at Level 3, including Distinction in 33 Level 3 credits and Merit in 12 Level 3 Credits. We may also require subject specific credits or an A level to be studied alongside the Access to Higher Education Diploma to fulfil essential subject requirements.
We advise that you also check the English Language requirements for your course which may specify a higher GCSE English requirement. Please find the information about this below.
Warwick may make differential offers to students in certain circumstances, such as those who have participated in a Widening Participation programme or who meet the University’s contextual data criteria. These offers are usually one or two grades below Warwick’s standard offer.
Do you offer foundation programmes?
All students who successfully complete the Warwick International Foundation Programme (IFP) and apply to Warwick through UCAS will receive a guaranteed conditional offer for a related undergraduate programme, for selected courses only. Further details are available in the standard offer and conditions for the IFP.
Can I take a gap year before starting my course?
Yes, Warwick welcomes applications for deferred (gap year) entry.
Will I need to interview for this course?
Warwick does not typically interview applicants. Offers are made based on the UCAS application, including predicted and achieved grades, the personal statement, and the school reference.
You will begin with the foundations of literary studies, reading work from the ancient past to the present, from Homer and Virgil to Chris Kraus and Boots Riley.
Your critical thinking and grasp of literary theory will develop in Modes of Reading, while in Medieval and Early Modern Literature you’ll study Chaucer, Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare in a global context. Epic into Novel will give you an understanding of some of the most celebrated literary forms of classical and modern times, while you will tackle the literature and politics that define contemporary life in Modern World Literatures (though if you’d prefer to learn a language instead, that option is open to you too). All of our students also take our Academic Enrichment program in which help you take the step up to University and guide your development as a literary critic and researcher.
In your second year you can choose from an array of modules on all periods alongside our core module, Literature in Theory, and a module of your choice on pre-1900 literature.
In your final year, you have free choice of four modules, inclusive of one from our many Global literature modules. You will undertake research across these modules supported by our Academic Research workshops and have the option to write a Dissertation on a topic of your choice.
Note that the module catalogue is subject to change for future years of study, as we evolve our courses in response to the latest developments in academia and industry.
Year 1
Year 2
Choose an option on pre-1900 literature
To give your degree historical breadth and depth, we invite students to take one of our many options on pre-1900 literature. The range of modules varies each year, and examples include Romantic and Victorian Poetry, The Nineteenth-Century Novel, Crime Fiction: Nation and Empire, Britain 1850-1947, Eighteenth-Century Literature, Seventeenth-Century Literature, Austen in Theory, George Eliot and Sociology, Literature and Revolution 1640-1660, Literature and Empire: Britain and the Caribbean to 1900, English Literature and Feminisms 1790-1899, The Classical Tradition in English Translations, Arthurian Literature, and Asia and the Victorians.
Your choice
Alongside Literature in Theory and a pre-1900 module, you can choose two further modules from the department on anything you're interested in; and one of these modules can be taken from another department. Our students often enjoy modules in History, Film and Television Studies, Philosophy, Theatre and Performance Studies, the Warwick Writing Programme, Warwick Business School, Politics and International Studies, and beyond.
Year 3
Your choice
In your final year, you choose four modules on anything you're interested in, including the option to write a Dissertation. One of these modules will be from our ‘Global literature’ options (see below) and one can be taken from another department. Our students often enjoy modules in History, Film and Television Studies, Philosophy, Theatre and Performance Studies, the Warwick Writing Programme, Warwick Business School, Politics and International Studies, and beyond. Throughout your final year, you will be supported by our Academic Research workshops that will guide you through the process of identifying your argument, working with sources, and writing essays.
Choose an option on global literature
To ensure your degree covers literature written in English from all over the world, we ask that students take one of our many options on global literature in their final year. The range of modules varies each year, and examples include The Global Novel, New Literatures in English, American Fiction since 1918, Commodity Fictions: World Literature and World Ecology, Literature and Empire: Britain and the Caribbean to 1900, Twentieth-Century Avant Gardes, Yiddish Literature in Translation, Asia and the Victorians, American Horror Story: US Gothic Cultures 1790-present, Science Fiction, Fantasy and the Weird, Disasters and the British Contemporary, Devolutionary British Fiction, and The Novel Now.
Additional Modules
Fees and funding
Tuition fee
£9,790
On 26 November 2025, the UK government announced that the tuition fee cap for UK undergraduate students for the 2026-27 academic year would increase to £9,790 from the 2025-26 rate of at £9,535.
Students who qualify for government-regulated fees are classed as ‘Home’ students for fees purposes. In future years, fees for continuing students may be subject to an increase in fees in line with any inflationary uplift as determined by the UK Government (if permitted by law or government policy).
We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.
If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.
You will repay your loan or loans gradually once you are working and earning above a certain amount. For students starting their course after 1 August 2023 (on Student Finance England’s Plan 5), you will repay when your income is over £25,000 a year.
Repayments will be taken directly from your salary if you are an employee. If your income falls below the earnings threshold or you stop working, your repayments will stop until your income goes back up above this figure.
Access thousands of part-time opportunities through our agency Unitemps (such as office work, retail jobs or helping at events)
Choose to apply for a job as one of our Student Ambassadors to share your own experience at events like Open Days
There are many different funding routes available, including a number of bursaries and scholarships for full-time undergraduates. If you struggle to meet your essential living costs, our Student Funding team will be on hand to offer advice and support.
Provides additional financial support for qualifying Home students from lower income families of up to £2,500 for eligible students
This bursary is paid directly into your bank account in three equal termly instalments to help with the costs of studying
There is no application for this bursary as your details will be provided directly from the student support awarding bodies (Student Finance England, Student Finance Northern Ireland, and Student Awards Agency Scotland)
A number of scholarship opportunities are open to full-time undergraduate students. These include sporting and musical bursaries, and scholarships offered by commercial organisations.
If you experience financial difficulties during your studies, you may be eligible for Hardship Funding from the University, in the form of an Emergency Loan and/or a non-repayable award
There are no Departmental scholarships available for our Undergraduate courses, however there are other scholarships which you may be eligible for. Please see our scholarships web pages for more information.
Tuition fee
If you are an overseas student enrolling in 2026-27, your annual tuition fees will be as follows:
Band 1 – £27,870 per year (classroom-based courses, including Humanities and most Social Science courses)
Band 2 – £35,530 per year (laboratory-based courses, plus Mathematics, Statistics, Theatre and Performance Studies, Economics, and courses provided by Warwick Business School, with exceptions)
Overseas Tuition fees for 2027-28 academic year have not been set. In future years, fees for continuing students may be subject to an increase in fees in line with an inflationary uplift. Please check our website for updates about 2027-28 fee rates before you apply.
If you are an EU student and eligible for student finance, you may be able to get a Tuition Fee Loan to cover your fees, please visit our Student Funding webpage for guidance for students ordinarily resident outside of England.
We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.
If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.
Eligibility for student finance will depend on certain criteria, such as your nationality, residency status, course, and previous level of study. The information below is based on the package of financial support available to students starting their course in 2026.
Eligible European Union (EU) Undergraduates can apply for a loan to help with the cost of Tuition Fees. Eligible EU students who meet additional residency criteria may also be eligible for a loan to assist with living costs.For more information please see Student Finance for Undergraduates - EU StudentsLink opens in a new window.
Access thousands of part-time opportunities through our agency Unitemps (such as office work, retail jobs or helping at events)
Choose to apply for a job as one of our Student Ambassadors to share your own experience at events like Open Days
If you are an international student, you may be eligible for financial help from your own government, from the British Council or from other funding agencies. You can usually request information on scholarships from the Ministry of Education in your home country, or from the local British Council office.
A number of scholarship opportunities are open to full-time undergraduate students. These include sporting and musical bursaries, and scholarships offered by commercial organisations.
If you experience financial difficulties during your studies, you may be eligible for Hardship Funding from the University, in the form of an Emergency Loan and/or a non-repayable award.
As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad.
For departmental specific costs, please see the Modules tab on the course web page for the list of core and optional core modules with hyperlinks to our Module Catalogue.
Associated costs can be found on the Study tab for each module listed in the Module Catalogue (please note most of the module content applies to 2025/26 year of study). Information about module specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below:
Core text books
Printer credits
Dissertation binding
Robe hire for your degree ceremony
Are there any course specific costs?
Please check with the department.
Teaching and learning
Teaching and assessment is also distinctive.
Most core modules in your first year are taught by means of one lecture and one seminar per week across terms one and two. In your second and third years, optional modules comprise short lectures and a longer seminar, or one seminar. Workshops on academic writing, employability, and personal development are also available throughout your degree.
Targeted teaching with class sizes of 10-16 students.
Guided learning of typically eight contact hours per week, plus extra-curricular workshops and reading groups. Seminars are usually 1, 1.5 or 2 hours each; lectures are an hour.
You will encounter a variety of assessment methods, from traditional essays and written examinations to creative projects, portfolios, video-essays, blogs, and films. Student work in the past has included the production of film and radio adaptations, musical compositions, painting, sculpture, photography.
As a student on our English degrees, you will have the opportunity to spend your third year at one of our partner institutionsoverseas.
You will then return to Warwick to complete your fourth and final year of your degree. You will be able to apply to transfer to the four-year course when you are in your second year at Warwick, subject to availability of places from the University's International Office.
Careers
Graduates pursued roles such as:
Journalists
Newspaper and periodical editors
Publishers
Creative directors
Arts officers, producers and directors
Authors, writers and translators
Musicians and composers
Teachers
Advertising accounts managers
Business sales executives
Solicitors and legal associate professionals
Management consultants and business analysts
Marketing associate professionals
Academics and researchers
In addition to a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant to support students studying English Literature, students also take an Academic Enrichment Programme in their first year focused on career skills, academic writing, and how to prepare for a future career while studying. Our Careers consultant also offers impartial advice and guidance, together with workshops and events throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:
Careers following your English and Comparative Literary Studies Degree
Our Student Opportunity (Careers) department offer a wide range of workshops, from developing confidence and interview techniques to learning how to articulate what you have to offer in order to impress potential employers. Online resources are also available, including training in drafting CVs and covering letters, practice aptitude and psychometric tests, practice online interviews, and other resources to help you research job opportunities. The myAdvantage databaseLink opens in a new window also advertises job, placement and internship vacancies that are from employers who are targeting Warwick students for their recruitment.
You can find and apply for a work placement in the UK or abroad, and the English and Comparative Literary Studies careers consultant is also able to provide support.
Studying (or even working) in another country can add to your skill set and broaden your outlook – both within study and beyond. All students have the opportunity to apply for a year abroad during their second year, which transforms your degree into a four-year course. You’ll need to discuss this with your tutors of course, but we encourage you to consider exploring this option.
Life at Warwick
This is where your journey begins. Our campus is the heart of it all. It’s more than just a campus - it's the places you visit, the people you meet, the fun that you have; the experiences you have here will be transformative.
Within a close-knit community of staff and students from all over the world, discover a campus alive with possibilities.
Our campus is where all the elements of your student experience come together in one place. You won't be short of ways to spend your time on campus - whether it's visiting Warwick Arts Centre, using our incredible sports facilities, socialising in our bars, nightclub and cafés, or enjoying an open-air event. Or if you need some peace and quiet, you can explore lakes, woodland and green spaces just a few minutes’ walk from central campus
Follow our students around campus on our social channels to see their experiences first-hand.
Teaching facilities
Our campus is designed to cater for all of your learning needs. You will benefit from a variety of flexible, well-equipped study spaces and teaching facilities across the University.
Oculus, our outstanding learning hub, houses state-of-the-art lecture theatres and innovative social learning and network areas
Different study spaces offering you flexible individual and group study spaces, computers, printing and scanning facilities, multimedia resources and more
Supporting you
Our continuous support network is here to help you adjust to student life and to ensure you can easily access advice on many different issues. These may include managing your finances and workload, and settling into shared accommodation. We also have specialist disability and mental health support teams.
Whether you live in a campus residence or in partnership accommodation off campus, you’ll be part of a community to get the most from your experience at Warwick.
Societies and sports play a huge part in community life at Warwick. With over 300 to choose from, getting involved is one of the easiest ways to make friends and share in experiences. Whether you’re into films, martial arts, astronomy, gaming or musical theatre, you can instantly connect with people with similar interests.
Your university experience is defined by far more than your course or the career path you follow. At Warwick, it’s where you discover who you could become.
74th
Warwick is ranked 74th in the world and top 10 in all major UK league tables
Our alumni community still call Warwick home. From a few hundred in 1965 to more than 310,000 alumni, and it's ever-growing.
As Warwick graduates, our students have access to employability support for two years after graduation, including access to careers appointments, job vacancies and professional networks.
We’re fond of freedom at Warwick. Freedom to learn, through an enormous array of modules to suit your interests, and through a range of innovative assessment techniques. You’re also free to explore the award-winning Warwick Arts Centre on campus, travel further afield and visit the home of Shakespeare in Stratford, or immerse yourself in the cultural scene in Leamington Spa and Birmingham.
We were ranked in the top 10 for research environment in the latest Research Excellence Framework 2021, which means you’ll feel well connected and ahead of the game.
The department recently moved into our Faculty of Arts Building.
As an Arts student at Warwick you’ll find your home amongst excellent teaching, learning and social spaces, including specialist facilities, all designed to support collaborative working and to enable your creativity and innovation to flourish.
The sustainably built, eight-storey building is located next to the refurbished Warwick Arts CentreLink opens in a new window in the heart of the University’s creative and cultural arts quarter.
This information is applicable for 2027 entry. Given the interval between the publication of courses and enrolment, some of the information may change. It is important to check our website before you apply. Please read our web page 'Important information to consider before making an application' in advance of applying to Warwick.
Next steps
Experience campus at an Open Day. Can't visit? Receive regular email updates or ask current students and staff questions about life at Warwick.
